The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday Magazine

  • SARS not the crux of Nigeria’s problems — Mohammed Belgore

    SARS not the crux of Nigeria’s problems — Mohammed Belgore

    Mohammed Belgore is the son of Justice S.B. Belgore, a serving high court judge at the Federal Capital territory in Abuja. The young lawyer noted for his sound speeches at different public fora is seen by many as a chip off the old block. In this interview with PAUL UKPABIO, the young lawyer expressed his views about the recent EndSARS protests and the youths of his generation as well as the challenges that come with being a youth in present time Nigeria.

    Your father, Justice S.B. Belgore, trained as a lawyer and rose to become a high court judge at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, among other appointments. What values did he instill in you as a child and what memories of childhood do you hold dear?

    Well, my father is a simple person and has dedicated most of his life to his work. So I mostly remember how it all started; his journey through magistracy and how much he wanted to realise his ambition of getting elevated to the High Court bench. He has instilled in me the value of selfless service and ambition, because when I think about it, I believe his major goal has always been to affect his immediate surroundings in a manner that puts one on an immortal pedestal. And I think he has achieved that gloriously through the grace of God.

    Additionally, he has also instilled in me the value of Godliness, selflessness and humility, because despite the relatively low income of a Magistrate, we always had a crowded home with extended family and guests with whom we shared the little we had.

    You studied Law in the university. Was that your choice or your dad insisted on it?

    No, he did not insist on it. He had no reason to since I always loved the profession. But he influenced me. Whenever I went to court with him, he always dazzled me with the way he controlled his courtroom. He is one of those judges who are born to judge. The aura, the wisdom and the grace with which he adjudicates has always been so enticing that I just wanted to be like him. Like his name, he is a reincarnated Solomon. He treats legal issues with wisdom. So, yes, he influenced me, but he did not insist. He didn’t have to.

    What exactly do you do in terms of work and keeping soul and body together?

    I work in a law firm belonging to one of the most reputable lawyers in the country, Mahmud A. Magaji, SAN. When I am not working, I am at home. I am a very simple person. I unwind mostly by writing, because I love writing. When I hold a pen, I feel like an artist with a paintbrush and the paper is my canvas. It makes me feel special to play with words and express myself articulately and beautifully. I also unwind by listening to the Quran on YouTube, reading books and watching a lot of football as a passionate Arsenal fan. I play video games as well, FIFA precisely. At times, I watch movies too.

    We have just witnessed the #EndSARS protests. In your own perception, is #End SARS really the crux of the matter at this time?

    No, I don’t think it was. I believe that the Nigerian youths are generally aggrieved, so the EndSars movement was started by someone and everyone basically jumped on the bus. Rightly so as well, but it is not the main crux of the matter. In fact, the issues plaguing our country at this time will need wisdom to distill into principal cruxes. But the most important thing is that we know we have problems and we need to act fast and sort them out. We are at the 11th hour as a nation. I believe we should start by fixing the problem of undeserving individuals in the corridors of power.

    What are the things you consider as the gains of the protest and what do you think is the way forward?

    Well, we now understand the significance of people power. We know that if we unite and speak as one, the powers that be have no choice but to listen. We can also take away the lessons learnt. For example, we need leaders and representatives. We can’t all talk at the same time. I think if we have to protest en masse again, we will be more organised. We have also shown the world that we’re not basically lackeys; we’re interested in the wellbeing of our society and we are ready to take part in fixing it.

    How do you think the older generation perceives today’s youths? Do you think the recent protests can change their perception?

    In all honesty, I think they think we are lazy and that we don’t have our priorities straight; that we love the easy way. But you know generations must have differences. The elemental forces that build each generation of individuals are distinct and that is the power of time. So, yes, I hope and I think the protests have shown that we are not lazy and we are ready to get gritty if need be; to think outside the box. And we have the will to solve problems.

    A popular commentator once said that today’s youths cannot take charge of their future because they are a ‘Facebooking’ and ‘Instagramming’ generation. How do you react to that?

    With due respect to him, it does not make sense. We are a jet age generation. But like I said, that is the power of time and the elemental forces of natural progression. Instagram and Facebook have demerits, and they have merits. It depends on how you apply yourself, like everything else in life. I am sure this person has a car and does not travel inter- state on a horse. That is just life and its times. Adaptation to such technological advancements is an art.

    Again, a lot of the elders believe that a huge number of youths focus on weed smoking, alcohol, music, football and women. Do you really think that the youth are ready for the task of nation building? If they are, why looting and destroying properties?

    I don’t defend those ills, but Nigerian youths are nothing but survivors. I believe that first and foremost, there is good in every human being, and then social circumstances dictate everything else. There is an Angel and a beast in everyone; it depends on what you feed. I think we are ready for nation building if given the opportunity and if the right environment is created: job opportunities and good schools.

    You can’t keep an energetic young population jobless. Also you cannot keep their institutions of learning in extremely deplorable conditions and expect them to turn out positively productive. Remember that an idle hand is the devil’s workshop. We need to ask the right questions and fix the right problems before criticising. Let whoever would come to equity do so with clean hands. However, in the most despicable circumstances, Nigerian youths are actually thriving. They deserve nothing but praise and not remonstrations. The real question is what has Nigeria as a country done for its youths?

    You said that youths should wait and use their PVC to dislodge the old corrupt leadership from government. But in a situation where the youths are given the option of two notably corrupt individuals as presidential candidates of the two popular parties, how relevant will the PVC be in such a situation?

    There are other political parties that are duly registered and legitimate. They also score a couple of votes, no matter how small, during elections. Now the current crop of leaders has perfected the art of keeping the people hungry and unenlightened, especially in the rural areas. So, on Election Day, they get something like a paltry sum of N1000 or so and 2 packs of Indomie for people to vote and they take them, because to a large extent, you can’t legislate with hunger. But we can sensitise them with the right resources and information if we come together so that they don’t fall prey to those antics anymore.

    If we do that, they will ignore the current popular parties for a new dawn. It can be an idealistic and ideological revolution of paradigm if we are united. Let them know that though they may be poor, when they accept these things in exchange for their votes, they are further nailing their own coffins. It might sound absurd, you could say its wishful thinking and rather easier said than done, but it is doable.

    One of the things observed during the recent protest was that the issue of tribalism and religion was played down. And the youths insisted that they didn’t have a leader because they didn’t want their leaders to be influenced wrongly. Is that an indication that the youth are seeing through the smokescreen of the divide and rule strategy the older generations have employed over the years?

    Exactly! That was one of the positives. It also means we will not let any charlatan come up and say he is a leader of the youth because he is famous or relatively successful. We need people with ideas, who represent progressive development. In the future, we will definitely need leaders if we are to take charge of or contribute in the governance of society. But I think we should come up with ways to pick such leaders. Perhaps through debates, town hall meetings and what have you. Let people express what they can contribute so that we will gauge their readiness. Let us also check their moral standing and background so that we won’t have representatives based on the divisive tenets of tribe or religion but based on what people can substantially offer.

    What kind of Nigeria would you want to see in the next 10 years?

    Well, I’m not looking to find myself in paradise. I know we have a long way to go. But I want to see a Nigeria that does not have an outlook as bleak as the one we find ourselves in today. Let there be electricity, water, good schools, good living conditions and less hunger. If we are not there yet, let it at least look like we are almost there, because we do have a long way to go.

  • #EndSARS: How hoodlums attacked customs officers in Ogun, flooded markets with contraband

    #EndSARS: How hoodlums attacked customs officers in Ogun, flooded markets with contraband

    For three days in October this year, suspected hoodlums hijacked the EndSARS protests in the border communities in Ogun State, sacked customs men from checkpoints and outstations and forcibly opened the border posts for smugglers who had a field day flooding markets in Lagos and Ogun with contraband goods, reports KUNLE AKINRINADE.

    For three days last month, mayhem was unleashed like a volcano on several border communities in Ogun State. Between Tuesday October 20 and Thursday October 22, 2020, suspected hoodlums hijacked the nationwide EndSARS protest against police brutality and attacked customs men at checkpoints and outstations across the border communities in Ipokia, Ado Odo/Ota, Imeko Afon Yewa South and Yewa North Local Government Areas of Ogun State.

    The minions were hunted, beaten, chased away from their duty posts, checkpoints, outstations and makeshift tents, with their patrol vehicles razed by suspected smugglers who seized the moment to bring in contraband ranging from foreign rice to assorted commodities and vehicles unhindered.

    At the Ihunbo, Oke Ore axis of the popular Idiroko Road, Ijoun in Yewa North Local Government Area and Ilara in Imeko-Afon Local Government Area, customs men were sacked from their border posts by hoodlums who subsequently had a field day smuggling bags of rice on motorcycles from neighbouring Benin Republic into the country.

    It was said that the hoodlums went into jubilation after sacking the Customs officials from their checkpoints and flooded the markets with contraband, especially foreign rice, so much so that the price of the commodity crashed from N22,000 to N15,ooo in one fell swoop.

    At the popular Owode market, the staple which hitherto sold for N22,000 was sold between N14,000 and N15,000.

    At about 9 am on Tuesday October 20, hundreds of hoodlums armed with dangerous weapons, including machetes, axes, guns and charms, attacked a Customs patrol base at Oke Ore, Yewa South Local Government Area.

    A customs officer, Solomon Alagye, was shot dead in an attack by the suspected hoodlums.

    According to sources, the slain officer was not the target, but his colleague identified as Mukaila Oladipupo Lawal, an Assistant Superintendent of Customs (ASC) popularly called MK, who had been a thorn in the flesh of smugglers around the axis.

    vandalised Custom van
    •One of the vandalised
    patrol van at Ijoun

    It was said that the hoodlums were actually a group of smugglers based in Ado- Odo area, whose contraband the said ASC Lawal had been intercepting in recent times despite the pleas made to him by the owners.

    An eyewitness said: ”When the hoodlums who are smugglers based in Ado Odo community stormed the customs checkpoint at Oke-Ore, they targeted Officer Mukaila Oladipupo Lawal, an Assistant Superintendent of Customs (ASC), and searched everywhere, calling out his name, but he had narrowly escaped.

    “It was in an attempt to disperse the mob that Officer Alagye was killed by the rampaging hoodlums, who also set ablaze the tent used as checkpoint by customs men.

    “Officer Alagye was actually killed by a stray bullet fired by the hoodlums during the mayhem. The late Algye was a brave and brilliant officer who went about his duty diligently but lost his life in an unfortunate incident.”

    It was said that the hoodlums went to Lawal’s residence to possibly fish him out but his family had been moved to an unknown location before the mob got to his home.

    “They went to his house thinking that they would meet him at home and harm him, but he was not at home while his wife and children were said to have been moved into safety before the hoodlums arrived there,

    “Lawal was then picked on by smugglers cum hoodlums because of his no nonsense posture at work which has earned him praises from his superiors,” the source added.

     

    The siege on Idiroko border post, others

    After they had succeeded in sacking customs men from Idiroko Road, an attempt was made to attack the Idiroko border post which overlooks Igolor Market in Benin Republic, but a joint drill team of customs men and soldiers from 192 Battallion in Owode repelled the mob.

    At Ijoun, a customs base was destroyed and officers chased away. The hoodlums moved to Ilara area of Imeko-Afon, where they also attacked a customs base and forcibly opened the border for influx of rice smugglers who moved thousands of bags of rice into the community and ferried them into the townships.

    “They opened up the borders after they successfully sacked customs men at Ilara, heralding a free day for smugglers  who used motorcycles to move in hundreds of bags of foreign rice, frozen turkey, chicken and vegetable oil, among others, into various markets and warehouses in Lagos and Ogun communities”

    At Oko Eye and Oke Odan axis of Idiroko Road, some customs checkpoints manned by men of Ogun 1 Customs Area Command and Strike Force Team of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A were attacked and razed. However, no patrol vehicles were set ablaze as the minions had moved their operation vans away from sight.

    The hoodlums also blocked the Iyana Ago, a stone’s throw to Idiroko border, and prevented motorists and commuters from passing through the area for more than one week.

    Customs men around the Ilaro/Oja- Odan/Obele border post between Yewa South and Yewa North Local Government Areas were also not spared as they also suffered multiple attacks at their duty posts.  The hoodlums, wielding machetes and guns, also destroyed and ransacked their tents, carting away sundry items, including uniforms.

    Alagye
    Late Alagye

    An eyewitness who said there was no shooting during the attack, said the hoodlums were sighted with bags of foreign rice and other contraband from neighbouring Benin Republic.

    “The Customs men fled their duty posts and ran for their dear lives when the hoodlums stormed their base and smugglers brought in all kinds of contraband for about five hours,” he said.

    It was said that the hoodlums went into wild jubilation after sacking the Customs men from their checkpoints.

    “The hoodlums celebrated the sacking of the customs men as they went into frenzy, singing and dancing as if they had just overthrown a government. They opened the border and used their motorbikes to bring in contrabands without any resistance by security or law enforcement agents, ” an eyewitness said.

     

    Seizure, recovery of goods

    The Controller of Ogun 1 Command of the Nigeria Customs and Excise, Comptroller Michael Agbara, explained that normalcy had been restored to the affected checkpoints.

    Speaking with our correspondent during a briefing held at the headquarters of the command in Idiroko penultimate Thursday, Agbara said that officers of the command had since regained control of the border areas, while a number of seizures and recoveries had been made.

    He said: ”Following the recent nationwide EndSARS protest hijacked by hoodlums and smugglers particularly at the border areas, our Area Command suffered vicious attacks in which an officer (AIC Solomon Alayge) was killed and others were injured.

    “In the early hours of Thursday, 22nd of October, 2020, many of our patrol teams were attacked. Their patrol bases were vandalised and set ablaze. Our officers and men were trapped as a result of the multiple attacks suffered along Oja-Odan, Ilaro (along Ilaro/Oja- Odan/Obele border), Ihunbo, Adesba, Owode (along Idiroko axis), Ijoun and Imeko. Many of our personnel’s belongings including uniforms and other valuables were looted. Many of our patrol vehicles were also vandalized.

    “In a move that looked like a premeditated action, the hoodlums/smugglers in large numbers seized the opportunity of the security challenge which made all the security agencies to focus on protecting their operatives and facilities, embarked on massive smuggling of rice and vehicles for about three days.

    “However, the Command afterwards intensified effort by strengthening her workforce with reinforcement from the military. This helped in beefing up security and restoring control in the Command.”

    The controller also disclosed that his men foiled an attempted attack on government owned warehouses and other facilities in Abeokuta.

    He said the attack would not stop his men from carrying out their statutory roles no matter the effort made to frustrate them in their lines of duty.

    “He said: We wish to reiterate that the continued attack on operatives of NCS and other sister agencies will not deter us from performing of our legitimate duties. appeal to parents and guardians to prevail on their children, wards and youths to desist from such criminal acts as smuggling and attack on security agents.

    “It is important to note that activities of the Command are patriotic duties in the interest of national security and economic wellbeing of Nigeria.

    “NCS operatives, in observance of the rules of engagement, will continue to carry out its legitimate duties as prescribed by law.”

    Speaking further, Agbara said a number of smuggled goods were either recovered or intercepted from smugglers with support from sister security agencies.

    “In the same vein, with bravery and gallantry of officers and men of the Command coupled with the maximum support of the military, the Command made the following seizures after the restoration of law and order across our borders:  2,947 bags of rice, 1,875 litres of premium motor spirit (petrol), 18 vehicles, 4 motorcycles, 10 sacks and 1,658 pieces of cannabis sativa, 159 cartons of sugar, 30 cartons of tomato paste, 12 cartons of cosmetics and soaps, 19 cartons of insecticide and 7 kegs of vegetable oil (25 litres each).”

    He added: “It is worthy of note that the Command, during the third quarter of year 2020, successfully recorded 420 seizures comprising 11,146 bags of foreign parboiled rice (50 kg each), an average of 18 trailer loads per month; 86 vehicles; 39 motorcycles (used in conveying smuggled items); 10 kegs of vegetable oil (25 litres each); 81 bales in 34 sacks of secondhand clothes; one sack and 1,344 pairs of used shoes; 1,814 cartons of frozen poultry products; 299,450 litres of PMS (petrol); 127 Kegs of palm oil (25 liters each); 1,225 litres of diesel; 75 litres of kerosene and other sundry contraband items with a total duty paid value (DPV) of N397,076,991 (N397 million)

    “Despite the precarious situation experienced recently by the Command, we will continue to dialogue, engage, sensitise and educate the public on social/economic implications of smuggling as well as perform our statutory function of enforcing compliance with government’s fiscal policies.”

  • Mother narrates how 17-year-old son impregnated his younger sister

    Mother narrates how 17-year-old son impregnated his younger sister

    By Linus Oota, Lafia

    • Says abominable act put her in distress

    • Daughter: We started affair like a joke

    Residents of a community in Keana Local Government Area, Nasarawa State were in shock recently with the revelation that a 15-year-old teenager became pregnant for her elder brother.

    Life, indeed, has become nothing but drudgery for Mrs Margret Audu and her 17-year-old son Joseph for who younger sister, Maria Audu, is three months pregnant.

    While they are indigenes of Keana Local Government Area, Nasarawa State, they are all based in Lafia, the state capital, from where they visit their village from time to time to help with some farm work and other necessities.

    At her base in Lafia, Mrs Audu does not only work with the state government as a primary school teacher, she also runs a provision store in Lafia. The provision store is managed by her and her children after school hours.

    She had lost her husband in one of the herdsmen attacks on farmers in the southern part of the state in 2018 while her husband, Pius Audu, a retired local government official, was attacked and slaughtered by the herdsmen while he was relaxing in his house at the village.

    Before his untimely death, however, He had four children from his marriage with Margaret, of which Joseph was the first born while Maria was the second. The latter had completed secondary school at the age of 17 while Maria completed JSS3 and at the age of 15 and was preparing to become an SS1 student in January 2021.

    With full resumption of schools in Nasarawa State after the long break impelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, Mrs Audu, like other government workers in the state, was making serious efforts to meet up with the target set for them by the state government, namely, completing school calendar within the year.

    In the circumstance, she hit on the idea of sending Joseph and Maria, his immediate younger sister, to the village to the village, so that they would help in harvesting the guinea-corn and beneseed that were ripe to avoid a situation where they would be destroyed by herdsmen.

    Without any hesitation, Joseph and Maria relocated to Keana after completing their exams only for their mother to find that Maria was pregnant barely two months after they relocated,

    Expressing her shock in a chat with our correspondent, Mrs Audu said “I am distressed, that my own daughter is pregnant for my son. Their father is not alive. Some herdsmen killed him in early 2018 in Keana, I don’t know how to handle this matter. “They completed their exams and I asked them to go to the village to harvest some of our crops since I was busy with work in Lafia and I knew that very soon, herdsmen would start grazing their cattle.

    “Both of them had been in the village with my late husband’s relatives who were there to provide cover and protection for them, though they were coming to Lafia regularly to pick certain needs and I was also visiting them every weekend to help and encourage them.

    “But last weekend, I visited them in the village and discovered that my daughter’s breasts had grown bigger and she was showing other signs of pregnancy. I them asked the two of them to follow me to Lafia.

    “On getting to Lafia, I took her to a pharmacy where a pregnancy test was conducted on her and the result showed that she was pregnant. “I asked her who was responsible for her pregnancy and she shockingly told me that she had not seen her period for two months, which meant she was pregnant and my son and first born, Joe, was responsible for it.

    Magrete Audu
    Magrete Audu

    “They are my biological children. I only asked them to relocate to the village to help in farm work since Fulani people were destroying our crops. I never expected that a brother and sister would start an affair.

    “Maria confessed to me that Joe was responsible for her pregnancy.”

    She expressed disappointment at her children’s behavior, saying: “It would have been better for Joe to tell me that he wanted to get married or look for a girlfriend to satisfy his urge instead of going into love affair with his immediate younger sister.

    “It is a very shameful thing; an abomination of the highest order. It is very wrong.”

    Saying that she was ashamed and rattled by the development, she vowed to take “appropriate action” against the errant children once she recovered from the shock. She, however, ruled out the possibility of disowning them.

     

    ‘How we started an affair’

    Maria, the 15-year-old girl at the centre of the scandal, said it all started like a joke while they were in the farm but it ended up in an affair, and they continued in the same vein when they returned later that night.

    She said: “i don’t really know what came over both of us, I believe we were being controlled by the devil. “How we suddenly started having sex on the farm is inexplicable. At the time I allowed him to enter me, I did not know that I was committing a wrong. And more than two months into the affair, it never occurred to me that I was pregnant until my mother saw the signs and a confirmation was made by medical personnel that I was pregnant for almost three months.

    “I have since regretted my actions. I want you to plead with my mother to help abort the pregnancy. I can’t keep it, The whole thing was the devil’s work and I completely regret it, I have pleaded for forgiveness.”

    Joe on his part said he had no words to explain what happened.

    He said: “My mother is already angry and has vowed not to sponsor me in school again, I want to go to the university straight if I’m lucky to make my papers in WAEC, but it appears the devil is bent on frustrating me.

    “I can’t really tell you how it started to the point where we are now. But what Maria told you is just the truth, I’m pleading with my mother to calm down and temper justice with mercy.”

    Joe said he had deeply offended God as well as his mother and the entire family for going too far by sleeping with his younger sister to the level of getting her pregnant. He also pleaded with his mother to abort the pregnancy.

    “I regret what happened. It is not in my character and the shame this very act has brought to me, my mother, my late father and the entire extended family is unbearable, I’m pleading with my mother to forgive me as it is the devil’s work,” he said.

  • Gombe in endless battle against drug abuse, barons

    Gombe in endless battle against drug abuse, barons

    By Sola Shittu, Gombe

    Umar is nearing the age of 60. He sat wearing a mournful look in front of his consultant at the Psychiatry Department of Federal Medical Centre Gombe. He had lowered his head in a gesture of regrets. By the time he raised it up, it was tears that rolled down his cheeks.

    His lips mumbled some incoherent words in Hausa language. Then he asked in Queen English: “Doctor, please what can you do to help me get my life back again?”

    Umar’s was a sad tale of a spoilt child who got from his parents all the good things that life can offer. Like his siblings, he had the opportunity to study some of the best of courses in citadels of learning around the world. But four times he tried and four times he failed all because he was addicted to cocaine.

    His parents who had offered him protection had died, leaving him a lot of properties to make something out of his life. But within a short period, all the properties were gone. Without wife or children and now without property, Umar sat in front of Doctor Rotimi Oyedun, a consultant psychiatrist at Federal Medical Hospital Gombe, asking the one million dollar question: “Doctor, can I get back my life back? Please help me.”

    Umar was one of the numerous psychiatric patients slated for counseling for the day. After more than an hour in the counseling room, Umar walked out with his head lowered to face the scorching sun of Gombe and continue his life of regrets. But he was not alone in this condition. “There are many of them,” said Doctor Oyedun.

    A few minutes later, another patient, Amina, walked into the counselling room with face, hands and feet that looked very clean. But other than these, the other parts of her body were riddled with boils caused by the use of needles to inject pentazocine.

    Emmanuel is a member of a popular Pentecostal Church in Gombe. He was a fervent worker in the church until he suddenly developed a change in attitude and was brought to the Psychiatry Department of the FMC. Unknown to the church, Emmanuel had been involved in substance abuse, namely cannabis, for some time. But unlike others, Emmanuel recovered with the same speed he got caught in substance abuse.

    Umar and Amina were not that lucky. In some cases, drug addicts develop ulcer in the limbs, which may lead to amputation of the limb as the wound may refuse to heal.

    According to Dr Oyedun, commonly abused drugs are classified into opiate, stimulants, depressant, hallucinogen and others.

    He said: “Opiates are drugs like morphine and pentazocine commonly called “penta” or “vectra”. Vectra is 225mg of tramadol. There is almost no medical indication for that single dose but it comes like that in tablet.

    “Usually, doctors will prescribe 50 mg or 100 mg once or twice a day, but people are using 225mg of it. Usually, it is very difficult to even get it for prescription in the hospital, yet it is sold across the counter at 225mg.

    “Depressants like common valium are also known as “D5” or “yellow boy” in this area. Then we have stimulants like benexol and coatine called “exol”. Apart from the alcohol which comes in various forms, the common one is pentazocine.

    “A lot of people are injecting pentazocine. They also do mix amphetamine in soft drinks. A lot of people take tramadol because they believe it enhances their sexual performance, but in the long run, it destroys their sexual organs.”

    Substance abuse, which is the abuse of psychoactive materials that exert their major effects on the brain resulting in sedation, stimulation or change in the mood of a person, is a universal social problem. According to the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) World Drug Report, substance abuse is a major public health problem all over the world. Thus, an estimated 208 million people or nearly 5 per cent of the world‟s population between the ages of 15 and 64 years consume illegal drugs.

    One hundred and forty-four million people abuse cannabis (marijuana), making it the most prevalent illicit substance, followed by amphetamine type stimulants, opiates and cocaine. Thirty-five million used amphetamine type stimulants, 16 million are opiates and 13 million are cocaine users (Naqshbanndi, 2012).

    Substance abuse does not only expose the individual to major health problems but also serves as a predisposing factor for crimes. The need to control the supply and reduce the demand for narcotic drugs in Nigeria led to the establishment of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in January 1990 by the then Ibrahim Babangida administration.

    According to a survey conducted by a group of sociologists from Federal University, Kashere Gombe; Gombe State University and Federal University Dutse Jigawa State, led by Haruna Mageed Oshogwe, on substance abuse among youths in Kashere town, Gombe, the main causes of substance or drug abuse among adolescents and even teenagers are multifaceted. They include high level of illiteracy among parents and children, inadequate or lack of skill among the youths, lack of awareness on the dangers of drug use and abuse, decaying moral values, broken homes due to divorce and, above all, lack of effective crime prevention measures such as effective partnership, especially among the stakeholders in the area.

    The first sign of a disturbing situation in substance abuse in Gombe State was first noticed by Governor Inuwa Yahaya during his governorship campaign throughout the state in 2019. Governor Yahaya noticed a high and disturbing level of misbehaviour among the youth, which was traced to substance abuse. He had since then made up his mind to address the situation once he became governor.

    Lamenting the ugly situation of drug abuse in the state, the Special Adviser to Governor Yahaya on Drugs and Narcotic, Mr. Birba Samu Godfrey, said: “I am really bordered by the situation and I think that is the passion his Excellency has for the youths who are into drugs. That is why he established the office of Special Adviser on Drugs and Narcotics so that we can go out and find the best way of solving the problems of youths who are into drugs in the state.

    “It may interest you to know that this is the first time that government is establishing such an office in the state. In this office, we collaborate with traditional rulers, the NGOs, youth agencies and the NDLEA to find ways of reducing the problem to the minimum level if not eradicate it.”

    Already, the office has located some places where cannabis are grown in Balanga, Dukur, Yamaltu-Deba and some parts of Shomgo Local Government Area of the state. The growing of cannabis is common in most of the hilly areas, some of which are not easily accessible by road. According to the Special Adviser, some of these places have been located and arrests have been made through the cooperation of traditional rulers, hunters and local vigilante groups in the areas.

    However, in the Gombe metropolis, most of the hard drugs are sold in pharmaceutical and patent medicines stores, but most guilty of the sale of illicit drugs are the patent medicines stores, according to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency NDLEA, which recently organised a sensitisation workshop in collaboration with the Nigerian Association of Patent and Proprietary Medicines Dealers (NAPPMED) Gombe State on their role in curbing the abuse and trafficking in controlled and psychotropic substances.

    The Chairman of NAPPMED, Salisu Mustabi, said right now, there was no member of the association involved in the sale of such illicit drugs to members of the public. He said although there was such an incident sometime last year, the person involved had been apprehended and handed over to the police.

    “There has not been a single arrest of any of our members for illicit drugs this year. The one you are talking about happened last year, and since we have arrested the person and handed him over to the police for prosecution, we have not had any record of such thing again.

    “Our Governor, Inuwa Yahaya has also invited us and talked to us on this matter. He said he does not want such a thing in the state again, and since he is the father of everybody, we have no choice but to listen to him. That is why you see us collaborating with the NDLEA for this sensitisation programme,” he said.

    According to the NDLEA, Gombe is rated number three among the high risk drug abuse states in the country, even though it has a small population of about 3.5 million people. Already, seven spots have been located within Gombe metropolis, but the problem is how to arrest them because of the sophistication of the drug barons.

    According to Godfrey, “most of the time, the barons got information of the plans to arrest them even before the arrest is made, because they often hack the mobile phones of the operatives involved.

    “We have made several attempts but because of the technology involved, by the time we are going, they have already got the information and then conceal the exhibits, and you may end up getting nothing.

    “In one instance, we met a boy of seven years in the drug shop. What can you do with a boy who does not even understand what you are talking about? That is to tell you how smart these barons are in Gombe. And normally if you don’t get the exhibits, the case is as good as dead.”

    According to Mr. Segun Ishan, the Principal Legal Staff Officer of NDLEA in Gombe State, the agency has successfully prosecuted no fewer than 12,000 cases all over the country with 35 prosecutions made in Gombe last year alone out of which only one was a female.

    He observed that the issue of drug abuse had gone beyond abuse to commercialisation of the case, and that is why, according to him, the case is common among men than women.

    He said: “It has become a commercial enterprise, and that is why I think it is more on the male side than on the female. Now, drug offence is mostly an offence where people want to make money. So it is not just a case of the abuse itself but the commercialisation of the offence.

    “In the whole country, Gombe is not in Class A or B. It is in class C because of its population.”

    The programme Officer of Drug Free and Preventive Care organisation (DFPC) Gombe, Mr. Abba David Ali, said that more than 20 per cent of the youth in the state are involved in drug and substance abuse, and this made the state to be ranked as the number three among states with high prevalence of drug abuse.

    According to him, “drug abuse is common among both sexes, but it is most prevalent among men because they are the ones we see mostly outside while the women are usually indoors.

    Gombe NDLEA State Acting Commander, Mrs Rosana Nnodim, while speaking with NAPPMED members in Gombe, the state capital, said the agency could no longer condone the conduct of some NAPPMED members which she said had led to the destruction of some youths’ lives and insecurity in the country.

    She said: “If you look at it very closely, the root of all the insecurity and youth restiveness in the country today can be traced to the use of illicit drugs which are made available by some of your members.

    “I speak to your conscience today, those of you who are engaged in the sale of all these outlaw stand wrong prescriptions, what goes around will surely come around. Whatever you wish for the children of other persons that you sell those drugs to so as to make money will surely one way or the other come back to you.”

  • Gaining respect in your relationship

    Gaining respect in your relationship

    By Rois Ola

    Being respected by your partner doesn’t just come to you like a free recharge card, you have to earn it and earn I mean work for it. It is everyone’s desire to be respected and not taken for granted by the one they love. Lack of respect kills intimacy, it destroys so many things and can crash all the precious things you have built with your partner.

    Respect is a powerful tool in every relationship. It is one of the major things that keep people happy together. Sometimes, people confuse respect and love as the same thing.

    In fact, they are two different things. Love and respect are two key ingredients of a healthy relationship. The following tips will help you to gain respect from your partner; In some relationships there is an equal amount of power and respect, and in others, one partner holds most of the power. To make things even more complicated, the power can shift at different points in your relationship. Maybe in the beginning you two never thought of power and respect because it felt equally distributed. But then, as time went on, you noticed things shifting and you felt like your boyfriend or girlfriend somehow had more power. Wait a second, weren’t you the Beyoncé of this couple? Or the Angelina Jolie? Power tussle sometimes can be complicated. Pride too causes power tussles and respect easily can be undermined making the other person feeling used and foolish.

    It’s normal for the power dynamic to shift in a relationship. Many things could have made the partnership structure change. But once it has swayed into a new direction (one that you may not love), how do you get on equal footing?

    Below are some ways you can gain some respect in your relationship, it may not address all, but it will address some aspects. I hope you gain some things from it to do better in your relationship

    1. Learn to speak up

    One way to become more powerful is to use your voice. Be clear about your wants and needs. If you don’t speak up for yourself, who else will? Remember, your partner ain’t no Syliva Browne, he or she can’t read your mind. Therefore, you need to use your words and tell him/her what you want and need in your partnership. One very good way to gain your partner’s respect is to speak up. People that are vocal always find it easy to gain respect everywhere. You can also apply this to your relationship. Use your voice. Your partner can’t read your mind. Therefore, you have to speak for yourself. When you are offended, let them know. And it’s very important to learn how to communicate with your partner effectively. As this will improve your relationship and help you gain respect from your partner drastically.

    1. Learn to be more independent

    It should not be mistaken that being strong and independent doesn’t mean you don’t need your partner in any way, it just shows that you are capable of doing things on your own, as a powerful individual. Being able to be self-sufficient while in a relationship is very important. Your partner will admire you for this strength which in turn will favor you.

    1. Learn to have boundaries

    Having boundaries is important Everyone has their own set of rules and boundaries that they are comfortable with. You will have boundaries in your relationship and it’s vital you keep them. There are some things that will cross the line for you and you need to be able to draw that line firmly.

    1. Learn to treat yourself the way you want others too

    Instead of following the yellow brick road, how about you follow the golden rule. An easy way of gaining respect is to treat your partner the way you would like to be treated. If you want respect and consideration you have to give it to your partner as well. If you don’t respect yourself, then who else will? It starts with yourself. You have to show how you want to be treated. This will come through with how you treat yourself. How do you talk about yourself? Do you give yourself any power? How do you view yourself? Take a moment to truly think about how you respect yourself. Remember, confidence is contagious.

    1. Learn to keep your word

    Saying something and doing the opposite is one way to quickly lose respect. Actions speak louder than words, this is not a new phrase to you I believe.  especially in relationships. So, if you tell your partner that there will be certain repercussions for something and you don’t follow through, he or she won’t take you seriously, ever again . so follow through all the time. Or even if you make a small promise to your lover, you must keep it. Say what you mean, and mean what you say.

    1. Learn to not settle for less

    There’s nothing more confident and attractive as somebody who knows what he or she deserves. If you’re in a relationship where your partner knows he or she can get away with anything, well then, your power and respect have already gone out the window. Stand up for yourself and don’t be afraid to walk away from a relationship that isn’t beneficial to you.

    No one wants an indolent partner. A hard-working partner is always respected. Ensure that you do well at work and gain more accomplishment. Give your partner a reason to be proud of you. Give them the opportunity to show you off. You can’t gain your partner’s respect if you are indolent. The hard truth is that no one likes to be associated with a loser. Your partner wants to look at you and be proud. This will boost your confidence and respect with your partner. I wish you all the best

  • Separate bedrooms for couples?

    Separate bedrooms for couples?

    By Vera Chidi-Maha

    Marriage is a very sensitive institution. In marriage, every little thing matters. From the way spouses welcome each other back home after a hard day’s job to the way they say good night. From the way wives and husbands address each other; to an issue as minute as thanking each other after a meal.

    A man ought to shower his spouse with compliments, making her feel like a queen at times. In return, a woman should always treat her man as if he is the only man in the room; treating him like; ‘oh king! Live forever! Those little gestures go a long way to spicing a marriage. But the focus of this piece is on the deal way for couples to sleep; whether it is desirable for them to share the same bedroom.

    Sharing the marital bedroom and sleeping on the conjugal bed is usually an important part of my idea for a perfect marriage. Ironically, however, things are fast changing because, according to a research finding, some couples who have healthy and loving marriages do not even share the same bedroom, yet they are happy.

    A particular claim that the reason why they sleep better is because they share separate bedrooms, sharing a bed with someone who snores, has restless legs, brings work or food to bed and watches the TV till the early hours is difficult. To have a good night sleep is not only essential for a person’s well-being, but it can also reduce the daily tensions that a couple could find themselves enveloped in.

    A person who has had a refreshing night sleep is ready to face the day in a good mood and cope easily with the everyday’s vicissitudes.

    Another reason why couples sleep in separate bedrooms is that it affords them the privilege of breaking the routine. Having separate rooms allows the couple to be in need of each other, making the time together more enjoyable.

    The scenario painted is that it should not just be a matter of a wife going to her spouse’s room for a ‘quickie’. No, it means the wife would start thinking about how to go about it; how to lure her partner to her room.

    You prepare yourself for the encounter; you bathe, shave, cream, perfume; it becomes like a date where you want to look your best to leave a long-lasting impression.

    Another surprising reason given by couples sleeping in separate bedrooms, according to the research finding, is that it gives them the opportunity to recover some of the freedom of being single.

    They claim that having your own private space can make you recover your own self since you don’t need to think about the other person when you are there. (But is this not risky?) They also claim that having a private space at home could be very relaxing. Respecting each other’s taste and having the opportunity to decorate their own rooms to taste is also a form of love.  They also claim that having separate bedrooms makes them love each other the more. Staying in separate rooms has become to them a pleasure, not an obligation. You sleep with your partner because you want to.

    However, sleeping in separate rooms leads to the disappearance of spontaneous sexual encounters. You should sleep in the same room with your partner whether he or she snores or not; that is why it is called marriage; it is a union, be reminded that it is ‘for better for worse’, besides, physical connection is very key in marriage.

    Cuddles, touches, companionship etc. should come naturally and not only when one of the spouses feels for such. Sometimes, sleeping, separately could lead to problems in marriage. This can be the case when partners are avoiding spending time together or having different expectations.

    According to Weiner-Davis, a marriage and family therapist and author of ‘The Sex Starved Marriage’, “if couples are sleeping apart all the time; it can create problems, if one person thinks that isn’t how a marriage should be, it’s a problem”.

    Clinical psychologist, Dr. Joy Browne, says “Sleeping together is important because it is about being together as a couple, it is a statement of compromise and also gives one the chance to at least cuddle, and there is that closeness. Pepper Schwartz agrees that couples who find each other moving apart may have ‘a troubled relationship’. Generally speaking, married couples may find sleeping in separate beds or separate rooms an effective way to handle different sleep patterns, snoring or tending to young children. Partners must ensure that communication lines and intimacy are not negatively impacted by the separate sleeping arrangements. I encourage married couples to sleep together on same bed in same room. As a matter of fact, many marriage experts believe that sleeping together could keep a marriage healthy.

    Couples should do whatever makes their relationships work. Some people like to sleep with the lights on wile some like to sleep with the lights off or at least a little dim, this is where the issue of compromise comes in.

    For most couples who sleep apart; it is practical decision. They know they will never get to sleep with their partners in the bed due to snoring, restless legs or opposing schedules, many couples have submitted that rather than suffer through the effects of sleep deprivation, separate bedrooms allow them the opportunity to rest well.

    In my growing up years, I saw my parents share the same bed all through. We lived in a three bedroom apartment; I never saw them or heard them suggest sleeping separately, no matter what. I concluded by asking again; is separate bedrooms for a husband and wife a good thing?

  • RIVALRY RENEWED: Mourinho, Guardiola battle again

    RIVALRY RENEWED: Mourinho, Guardiola battle again

    It’s Jose Mourinho vs. Pep Guardiola today  as the English  Premier League returns with the bang, reports MAYOMIKUN OREKOYA.

     

    Old rivals Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola renew hostilities today  when Tottenham Hotspur welcome Manchester City to North London in the Premier League. For the first time since January 2017, Spurs go into a showdown with Man City sitting above their opponents in the table, and victory would lift them to the very top until at least Sunday night. Matches with Mourinho and Guardiola in opposing dugouts almost demand that as much attention be focused on the managers as the clubs, and for Guardiola in particular he will be looking to crown a celebratory week which saw him finally put pen to paper on a new two-year contract at the Etihad Stadium on Thursday.

    Arguably the two highest-profile managers in football have faced off in Clasicos and Manchester derbies before, with Guardiola enjoy the better of their past meetings.

    Indeed, Mourinho’s 10 defeats to Guardiola-led teams are more than he has suffered against any other manager, while Guardiola himself has only beaten Manuel Pellegrini more often as an opposing boss.

    The dynamics may be a little different heading into today’s showdown, though, with Tottenham flying high and belief beginning to grow that they could launch a genuine title challenge this season – just one year after finishing 40 points off the pace.

    Yet Spurs are in a rich vein of form and will go top for the night if they can beat City, with third-placed Liverpool hosting leaders Leicester City on Sunday night.

    City have 12 points from seven games, one fewer than Spurs, and are in need of a win as they are already six points adrift of Brendan Rodgers’ side.

    Mourinho has certainly not always enjoyed facing Guardiola, but recent encounters – and the trends in their teams’ performances this term – suggest he might just have his old foe’s number…

    No manager has beaten Mourinho more often (10 times) than Guardiola, with Rafael Benitez next on that list with six victories. That win total for Guardiola does not include the 2013 UEFA Super Cup, either, when Bayern Munich beat Chelsea on penalties after a 2-2 draw.

    Indeed, Mourinho has won only six of 23 meetings with Guardiola and has been out-scored 37 to 27 in those matches – although only Jurgen Klopp (eight) has beaten the Catalan more often.

    They first faced off when Mourinho’s Inter hosted Guardiola’s Barca in the Champions League group stage in September 2009, a game that finished 0-0. Mourinho would win just two of the next 13 meetings with Guardiola: a 3-1 semi-final first-leg win en route to Inter’s 2009-10 Champions League triumph, and a 1-0 victory with Real Madrid in the 2011 Copa del Rey final.

     

    Mou’s pep

    However, things have slowly swung more in favour of Mourinho in the past eight years.

    The Portuguese has won four and lost three of their previous nine meetings (if you exclude that Super Cup match six years ago), including two of the most recent three league matches: the famous 3-2 comeback win in the Manchester derby that saw United postpone City’s title celebrations two years ago, and a 2-0 victory for Spurs in February this year.

    That match was billed as something of a Mourinho masterclass, but City were undeniably unfortunate. They missed a penalty, had Oleksandr Zinchenko sent off, and still out-shot their hosts 19 to six, having 41 more touches in the opposition box and 67 per cent of the possession.

    Still, the 2020-21 season has seen Spurs generally playing superior football to City – and in a style that could cause them particular harm.

    Mourinho’s name has become synonymous with a specific brand of football in England, which is commonly recognised as negative, defensive, strategic and largely difficult to watch from an entertainment perspective.

    ‘Parking the bus’ is a term that seems to be attached to Mourinho – particularly when his teams are competing in high-profile matches against capable opponents – with the Portuguese once controversially stating: “The game is won by the team who commits fewer errors.”

    The Tottenham boss is set to face one of his arch-rivals this weekend in Pep Guardiola, with Manchester City set to make the trip to London, and it could be argued that the Spaniard has proved to be the antithesis of Mourinho in many ways over the course of their managerial careers. Guardiola wants his players to have the ball, because you need it to score; Mourinho typically doesn’t want possession in important games because – in his own words – whoever has the ball has fear, and whoever does not have it is thereby stronger.

    The Tottenham boss is set to face one of his arch-rivals this weekend in Pep Guardiola, with Manchester City set to make the trip to London, and it could be argued that the Spaniard has proved to be the antithesis of Mourinho in many ways over the course of their managerial careers.

    Guardiola wants his players to have the ball, because you need it to score; Mourinho typically doesn’t want possession in important games because – in his own words – whoever has the ball has fear, and whoever does not have it is thereby stronger. The Spurs boss has always assessed the situation in front of him before determining his playing style and against City, there could be some reason for Mourinho to be less fearful of Guardiola’s attack than ever before.

    The Etihad club have scored only 10 goals in the Premier League this season, with Spurs finding the net 19 times in comparison, although they have played one game more.

    City currently  rank 11th  in the table at the moment for goals per match – as shown below – behind the likes of West Ham, Southampton and Everton, with the Manchester side likely suffering without Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus.

    The latter is now fit but regardless, City haven’t seemed as fluid and unforgiving in offensive areas of late compared to the past, with just one goal scored in five of their seven league fixtures.

    Guardiola’s men are still generating a good amount of shots, with an average of 14.4 per match posted this season which ranks them third in the division, but according to Expected Goals, they aren’t forging many clear-cut openings and their shots are generally quite difficult to score based mostly on their locations.

    It is still Guardiola, and players such as Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling are still representing him on the field, but City don’t quite seem as scary as they have in the past which could result in Mourinho deploying more of an attacking game than normal on Saturday.

    City are almost certain to dominate the ball, but if Mourinho is brave with his selection and his approach, Spurs could prove to be too much on the counter-attack for Guardiola’s outfit to handle.

    There will be plenty of attacking talent on display and goals are a given when the sides meet. There have been 21 meetings since the last scoreless draw in August 2010.

    Harry Kane is the obvious choice with the Spurs talisman being involved in 23 goals in 14 matches in all competitions this season, scoring 13 times.

    Gabriel Jésus impressed against Liverpool with his slick equaliser and has been involved in 11 goals in 11 games in all competitions, scoring eight, including three in his last three appearances for City.

     

  • The leadership rebirth that elections bring

    The leadership rebirth that elections bring

    Nnedinso Ogaziechi

     

    Love or hate the United States of America, they have come a very long way in influencing the socio-political and economic fortunes in the world, either positively or negatively. The Nigerian democracy for instance is fashioned after the American Presidential system but that seems to be at the very superficial level. The operational mechanics seem to be somewhat far apart.

    While for instance they have defined two party system of the Republicans and Democrats with a sprinkle of other smaller and less influential political parties, Nigeria’s  political party system seems very fluid as it has oscillated between the a handful of parties post-independence to an unwieldy multi-party system that accommodates almost a hundred political parties that were on the ballot in 2019.

    The American political party system equally shows that party leadership is purely for administrative purposes while the Nigerian versions tend to be more influential and seemingly very intrusive in the operational mechanics of the political parties. Has that been the waterloo of our democracy? How does this impact on our leadership evolution processes?

    The Roundtable Conversation sat with Osita Chidoka, former minister of Aviation and governorship candidate in Anambra state in 2017 to get his views about the leadership evolution processes and how it affects service delivery in Nigeria. He believes that in most cases, Nigeria has lacked the emergence of real courageous leaders who have solid convictions about leading a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society like Nigeria.

    To him, it seems the leadership evolution processes at all levels must be redefined. Nigerians must begin to ask themselves what kind of leadership they want because as they say, each society gets the leadership it deserves. He regrets for instance a situation where governors especially in the South East influence who takes over from them whether the person is competent or not. A flashback since 1999 has shown that the South East for instance does not have a very huge record of voting out governors unlike in other regions where incumbents lose elections.  He believes that governors exercise too much power in influencing who takes over from them and in most cases, their choices are often not based on competence of sense of service.

    Chidoka feels that Nigerians must begin to define the type of leadership they want and work towards getting such people. People must start to look beyond selfish gains  in leadership choice because very often, the richest  is not always the most capable leader. But if any group of people decides to take financial benefits over competence, they must prepare to live with the consequences of their choices.

    He observes that the Northern region seems to have the courage to vote out incumbents in the last election. The governors of Adamawa and Bauchi lost their re-election bids because the people rejected them. The people must be willing to let their political leaders realize that if they do not perform well, they would be rejected at the polls.  U

    The American election to Chidoka presents a lot of lessons about a workable democracy. First, the constitution is the grand norm and is respected. The value of a scientific approach to data is quite admirable. If the 2020 election has been said to the best  and almost perfect, it is because they used a system of accountability that works and the human elements played their roles patriotically without allegiance to partisanships.

    A presidential system of election requires very careful planning, data and a prepared populace ready to do all it takes to legally elect competent and ready to serve leaders .To Chidoka, at the stage Nigeria is now, Nigerians needs hope, there is a dire need for re-emergence of functionality at all tiers of government. It is not a function of what government will do or not do, there are things that need to happen for Nigeria to become proud of Nigeria in and outside the country. Nigerians seem disconnected from Nigeria and it is not just about the leadership but the people after all the leadership emerges from the people. Nigerians must begin to re-engage with Nigeria.

    The next election is coming and certain pertinent questions must find answers. Does Nigeria want to renew itself as a multi-ethnic society? How can we push forward as a united country ready to harness the best of our rainbow quality?  We have seen globally  the failure of some multi-ethnic societies, USSR failed, Eritrea and Ethiopia seem to be on the tenterhooks, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia failed but then, there are success stories of multi-ethnic societies too.

    There are still multi-ethnic societies that have thrived. The United Kingdom is, without claiming perfection  a success because the people found a way to have an inclusiveness that speaks justice and equity. Our model of democracy, The United States of America as the name implies is multi-ethnic and embraces what is perhaps the best human cocktail as virtually every country is represented  being a nation of mainly immigrants from various cultures and creeds.

    In the UK for instance, there have been agitations for separations but in all the referendums, majority had voted to stay because somehow there has been a carefully  (even if not perfect) worked out roadmap for co-existence. Switzerland is a multi-ethnic society too that has thrived. So Nigerians must be realistic and come together and work out how to maximize the multi-ethnic country by making realistic and decisive decisions about inclusiveness that breeds justice and equity.

    There are lessons for Nigerians about how to build multi-ethnic societies into a viable country. There must be an inclusiveness that brings every group’s need to the table. There must be the viability of hope, there must be value for meritocracy creating an avenue for progress. A multi-ethnic country cannot survive on any lopsided plan where any group has a sense of superiority or a bullish instinct over others. It is highly unsustainable to maintain a lopsided and unjust system that leaves any segment of the country out in any way. Nigerians must continuously renegotiate the idea of a workable Nigeria. Something like the federal character issue is valid but must never be abused. It is a system that is meant to provide a balance that profits everyone in the union but must not skew to the advantage of any one side.

    The coming election must re-define the Nigeria we want by the choices we make at all levels of the electoral process. Otherwise, the wobbly union we see today might continue. We must realistically continue to re-negotiate the union in ways that would ensure no group is left behind. The election would be a hallmark election that would determine what we truly want. Nothing beats the beauty of diversity. It is the reason the rainbow is such a beauty. The symmetry of the colours create the beauty and no colour displaces another.

    The US election has come and gone and The Roundtable feels that there are lessons Nigerians must pick up besides the comic angle of the sitting President not conceding defeat.  The constitution of the country would be invoked at the right time. The people have spoken and both sides of the aisle are seeing the transparency in the process. The states and individuals followed their electoral laws to the letter in spite of their partisan leanings. Party leaderships are not up in arms as they are not constitutionally empowered to interfer beyond their legal roles.

    In a way, incumbency offered no advantage to the sitting president as the system works irrespective of personalities. No matter how much he wants to return, if the people say no at the poles, he has no choice. There have been governors and senators who have stood to defend the process with clear details and statistics.

    The president-elect, Joe Biden won the election on his merit. He had built a public service legacy over decades and rose to become the Vice President for eight years and the American people had for years been scrutinizing his public service record. He might not be a saint but his integrity and sense of service is admirable. Leadership must come with certain values. Integrity, humility, empathy, patriotism, education and all other values are clear prerequisites.

    The Nigerian people must be willing to elect men and women whose history gives a clear glimpse of their values. No nation seeks to elect saints seeing that is utopian but it helps to look for people whose values can be gleaned from their private and professional lives. The idea of people just jumping out to contest elections and somehow wangle their ways to victory with some opaque history must stop. History matters, pedigree matters, offices do not change people rather they bring their personalities to office.

    Again the historic number of votes is a clear statement that the advocacy for voter turnout worked especially for minorities who had shown clear apathy during the past elections. Stacy Abrams of Georgia has worked herself into the history of American politics for her mobilization efforts that virtually won the state of Georgia for the Democrats. The value of data is equally glaring as all voting blocs had verifiable data. For Nigeria with one of the most litigious elections in a democracy, the handling of the complaints of the losing candidates with transparent records and numbers has seen them either lose or withdraw certain lawsuits.

    It is instructive for Nigerians to note the positives in the US elections in ways that can improve Nigeria’s democracy as a multi-ethnic society practicing the finest brand of democracy. It is pure hypocrisy to just take the system without the core ingredients that marks out the process as a democracy that relies on the will of the people.  There is no perfect human system but Nigerians must decide to either put pillars to the democratic house or let the house continue to stand on sand.

    The dialogue continues…

  • Day magic show with my husband went awry — Prof Peller’s widow

    Day magic show with my husband went awry — Prof Peller’s widow

    Alhaja Silifat Peller, aka Lady Peller, is one of the widows of famous Nigerian magician, Alhaji Moshood Abiola Peller, popularly known as Professor Peller. Like her late husband, Lady Peller was also popular for her feat in magical shows, particularly in the 1980s. Now 73 years old, she spoke with GBENGA ADERANTI on life without her husband and why the family chose not to probe his assassination, among other issues.

    • Recalls how she became co-magician with deceased spouse

    • Blames journalists for his assassination

    At 73, you still look active and agile. What is the secret?

    I have to thank God for giving me strength, and my children for rallying round me.

    Considering how close you were with Professor Peller, how has life being without him?

    At first, his death was a great blow. But as they say, time heals wound. It has been 23 years, and I thank God and my children for giving me the strength to move on.

    One would think that you would give marriage another shot after a while. Why didn’t you re-marry?

    I was already 50 when Professor Peller died, and I had got all my children. What would I be looking for in another marriage? I don’t think it is a good advice. I was satisfied being with him and I am satisfied with my life.

    You celebrated your 70th birthday three years ago. What do you think Prof would have done on that occasion if he was alive?

    Wow! The children would have had two celebrants on that day. They would have celebrated both of us. And after the celebration, Professor Peller, I trust him, would have taken me around the world. I know that is what he would have done.

    How did the two of you meet?

    We met about 50 years ago when I was at Iseyin District Grammar School. He came to perform in my school and we became friends. Later on, we got married, and I joined him as an assistant magician.

    You come from a family of Muslims. How did your parents react when you introduced a magician as your fiancé?

    I was already an adult and a practising Muslim. Professor Peller was also a Muslim. My parents were happy to see me marrying a Muslim. I did not have any problem with my parents marrying him.

    How easy was it to combine your religion with magic?

    My religion is Islam while magic is an art. They are different things. Magic is my work, Islam is my religion. The two do not conflict at all.

    You were not a magician until you got married to Prof.  How did you learn the art?

    After we got married, we went to America and he enrolled me at Colon Michigan School of magic. I learned the art at that place. I joined him and we started together.

    Your fashion sense is regarded in many quarters as unique. What is the secret?

    Don’t forget that I was an artiste and I used to go on stage. Don’t also forget that I have travelled all over the world, like a quarter of the globe. I have seen different cultures and different dresses, and I know what suits me for any occasion. If I am in the house, I know what to wear, and if I am going out, it depends on the occasion.

    There was a show in which Prof put you in a coffin and cut it into two. Did you nurse any fear when he performed such deadly shows?

    No. You know that before we left home for a show, I always had the confidence. And I trusted my husband a lot. Don’t forget that I was his wife. He would not allow anything to happen to me. We were always very careful. That was just for the television.

    It was only one day that something happened at the Cultural Centre. I am sure some people will still remember. The cutting we did that day was not the cutting we were doing on the television. The heat was too much on that day and I couldn’t come back until we finished the show. Some people said they didn’t want to see anything again and they left. The second day, people were saying, ‘we just want to see Lady Peller’. Some people were even spreading rumour that they saw a convoy following a corpse to Iseyin.

     It would seem that magic show died after Professor Peller’s death and none of your family members was interested…

    Professor Peller has a son, Zeeto Peller. He is a lawyer and a good magician. He has been doing magic. Maybe you have not come across him. In the family, we don’t force anybody on the career to pursue. Everybody has their own fields. All Professor Peller’s children are doing well. There is still magic in the family.

    Why didn’t you continue the shows after his death?

    Before his death, I had already retired from magic.

    Why?

    Won’t you retire when you have done a job until you are 50 or 60 years old? I have to rest. You know magicians travel a lot. We travelled from Nigeria to all the countries in West Africa, all by road. I have to rest.

    Politicians from different party platforms attended your 70th birthday. How do you manage to relate with them without having a clash of interests?

    Political parties apart, I move with people with good character; people who have the love of other people in their minds. If you are in a political party and I see that you don’t have the love of your people in your heart, and I call you and you refused to change, I will move aside.

    I move with people with good character and love of people in their hearts. You can be in any party.

    In Nigeria, if all of us can love one another and put ourselves in the shoes of other people, there would not be hatred. I think we are getting to that. I would not move with anybody I cannot talk to or have confidence in. You can be in APC or PDP, but you must have a good heart. What we want is a good Nigeria, so I love everybody that is doing good.

    What is that experience of life you are not likely to forget in a hurry?

    All the things that God has done for me. God has been good to me. I can’t forget my children. All I have is my children. If you love them, you love me.

    Any regrets?

    Not much. There is nobody who does not have up and downs, but they are not regrets. What you call regret is when something happens to you and you can’t move forward. If you can move forward, you forget that one. By the grace of God, I don’t have regrets.

    How is it to live in a polygamous family?

    You know we have different types of polygamy. I thank God for where he put me. In a polygamous setting, you build yourself. If you build yourself, there is a way for you. And if there is love, you overcome the challenges. That is the most important thing. The head of the family should teach love.

    I’m the mother of the children of my husband. They love me with their hearts. I am plain to them and I love them and they know that I love them. That is how I cope.

    What are you missing about your late husband?

    I missed my husband. I missed my love. Professor Peller was a man of great wisdom. I missed his parables and proverbs. I missed him a lot. He is still in my heart. Although he is dead, they only killed the body and not the soul. I hold him in so much esteem in my heart. I still prefer to refer to him in present. He is till with me in spirit.

    Nobody would have believed that Professor Peller could be killed the way he was. What really went wrong? Why didn’t you probe his death?

    You know we are Muslims. As Muslims, we believe that whatever that happens, God knows about it. It was his time, but God used somebody or the devil in this case to perform that task.

    It was you journalists that sold him out. It was while they were interviewing him like this that he revealed too much about himself. He said if he was praying, there would be nothing in him. But after his prayer and he put on his agbada, if they faced him, nothing would happen to him.

    But we thank God for his life. He came and he saw. He has left but he is still in our hearts. God knows best. We don’t know those that killed him. How many people have been assassinated in Nigeria that they got a clue about those that killed them? Have you seen any? Is it Professor Peller alone that has been assassinated? No. But if nobody sees people that are doing all these things, God is seeing them and He knows everything. We thank God for his life.

  • Benue community where children are trafficked for money, sex

    Benue community where children are trafficked for money, sex

    Child trafficking appears to be one of the most lucrative businesses in Igede community of Benue State as the crime is said to be prevalent in the area. While the boys are trafficked to the southern part of the country to be exploited economically, the girls are trafficked within and outside the country for sexual exploitation. In both cases, it was learnt, the victims are always maltreated and brutalised with some of them dying in the process, INNOCENT DURU reports.

    • How ‘madams’ besiege community to recruit young girls during festivals

    • Victim murdered in Lagos, alleged by boss to have committed suicide

    • We’re not aware of trend -Benue govt

    JOY, a child trafficking victim from Igede, Benue State, was found dead in her room in Lagos during the recent COVID-19 lockdown. She was said to have been strangled by her boss who then hung her lifeless body and claimed that she committed suicide.

    Joy’s boss’ story sounded credible and was taken hook, line and sinker by many who heard the emotional and well-crafted narration.

    But they did not sound logical to one of the kinsmen of the deceased girl, Barrister Michael Awo Ejeh, the founder of Ogedegede Community Development Foundation (OCDF), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that leads a coalition of civil society organisations in Benue South.

    “Joy was one of the victims of the Covid-19 lockdown,” he said.

    “She had a dispute with her madam who strangulated her and hung her body to make it look as if she committed suicide.

    “The girl had been starved, so she went to pick noodles to eat but the woman quarreled with her for doing so without her knowledge. She then descended on Joy and beat her mercilessly.

    “When the police went for investigation, there were bruises all over her body.  If you see the crime scene, the whole bed and everything was rumpled. That shows that there was  a fight and that it was not a natural death.

    “We shouted to the high and mighty in the police and the National Assembly and involved them in this case. We insisted that she must be charged to court. As I speak with you, the woman is in prison and the trial is ongoing.”

    The late Joy’s case is said to be one out of the numerous others involving thousands of Igede children who are susceptible to trafficking.

    In a tone laden with disappointment, Barrister Ejeh said the vice is escalating in the area because “Igede is a very remote community where there are no basic amenities like hospitals or social recreation centres.

    “We don’t even have a high court or things that could make the youths to stay back at home.”

    The wife of Igede monarch, Her Royal Highness, Queen Esther Oga Ero, told The Nation that child trafficking had been the business for many people in the area.

    “They traffic young people from here to the southern parts of the country and even up to Italy.

    “It is something that has been a problem to us in the domain and we have been trying to curb it but our efforts are not yielding the needed fruits because no interest group is ready to rehabilitate such children when we rescue them.”

    The queen observed that human traffickers in the area operate like a cartel.

    She said: “They always come home to look for house helps.  Because poverty is palpable here, when some of the girls get to junior secondary school, they go out to look for a job in order to come back and write their junior NECO and WAEC.

    “Sometimes they fall into the hands of some  agents who connect them to supposed masters and mistresses where they would work as house help, but at the end of the day, it turns out to be something else.”

    Sunny Abara, who coordinates the activities of OCDF in Lagos State, also shared the story of 13-year-old Sarah who was trafficked at a very tender age and had served seven different families before she was eventually rescued.

    Amara said: “Sarah had not had any education when she was trafficked from Benue to Lagos. From the age of five, she had served seven different families, taking care of women of over 80 years.

    “After working in one place for one year, the stepfather would come and tell the boss that he wanted to take her back home.

    “But what he does in the actual sense is to take her to another family, pretending that he just brought her from the village. One day, she had issues with the old woman she was taking care of. The woman fell down and she started laughing.

    “Angered by her action, the woman threw a bottle of water at her. She ran out of the house and started loitering on the street.

    “She was picked up by the police welfare unit at Adeniji under the tree where some boys were smoking Indian hemp and dealing in other illicit drugs. She is now under protective custody in Abuja.”

    Ejeh also recalled how three Igede children loitering the street of Lagos were found by a good Samaritan who assisted them to return home.

    “We have a serious existential threat to the future generation because of trafficking in the land.

    “We rescued many children who were found roaming the streets of Lagos and other major streets in Nigeria.

    “They were being maltreated because they were under gruesome child labour.

    “I invited the owner of an orphanage in Makurdi from Abuja to come and intervene in the case of three children found by a Tiv man, wandering in Lagos. They had serious bruises on their legs and other body parts.  They had been seriously maltreated. Many of them were sexually violated.

    ”The man who found them paid their fare and had them dropped in Makurdi.

    “At Makurdi, somebody led them to the orphanage which contacted my organisation, Ogedegede Community Development Foundation.

    “We then reached out to Obi Local Government Area’s officials who volunteered to help in tracing the identities of these children.”

    Ejeh noted that many of the rescued children hardly remember where they came from or recall the names of their parents. “A lot of these children, like I said earlier, are seen loitering around the streets with different degrees of bruises and attacks on their bodies.

    They have been under child labour for years.

    “A lot of the trafficked children are so tender that they could not just remember their parents’ names or the names of their communities.

    “What we do is to send our members to those locations, incident the matter with the police, interview the victims, take their pictures and go to the social media to ask if any of our people knows the victim.

    “If the victim is able to mention a particular community, we will then narrow it down.

    “We have at various times succeeded in tracing some of the parents of the victims and reintegrating them with their children.

    “We have some of them in orphanages in Abuja. There was one that was being trafficked for prostitution abroad and we intervened.

    “We have taken the campaign to the doorsteps of our people. We have met the traditional ruler of Igede, we have met with past local government executives to drive home the message that our children can no longer be sold in the common market because of wrapper or because of bottles of wine or money.

    How Igede girls are trafficked for sexual exploitation

    Many young girls in the area were said to have been innocently trafficked to various African and European countries for the purpose of working as prostitutes.

    The Makurdi commander of National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Aganran Ganiu Alao, said the madams often come to traffic the victims during the new yam festival and Christmas period.

    He said: “Obi and Oju axis are very close to each other and highly endemic in trafficking in persons. They are areas that have been known as border points where most of the victims in Benue State are taken through to the South East because they share boundaries with Ebonyi and the rest.

    “They take victims from there to Enugu, Delta, Port Harcourt and other neighbouring states. We also have international trafficking taking place there.

    “In the course going there for sensitization and campaigns, we discovered that a lot of children from these areas are in Mali and Bukina Faso engaging in prostitution. A lot of them.

    “They normally come home during the Igede Agba Festival also known as New Yam Festival. They just did one about a month ago.

    “During this festival, most of the victims that have gone out come home to celebrate and also come home in December to showcase whatever they have been able to achieve in those countries they have gone to engage in prostitution.

    “In the course of this also, we have a lot of their madams coming home. When they come home, it is also an avenue for them to recruit more girls and take them to places like Mali, Burkina Faso and the rest.

    “We go there during this period for sensitization and campaign, especially during and after Christmas.

    “The Igede Agba held before this last one, we were part of the programme from the beginning to the end.”

    He noted that the Makurdi Zonal Command came on board in 2013 and since then, “we have been able to rescue over 860 victims of human trafficking. We have been able to process (investigate) over 750 cases of human trafficking, child labour and child abuse.

    “Within that period till date, we have also been able to have 23 convictions. At the moment, we have over 14 cases that are pending in court.

    “The Benue State Command covers the entire North Central zone and not only Benue. As we work here in Benue, we also work in Taraba, Jos, Kogi and Nasarawa states, but because our office is in Benue State, that is why our work is more in the state.”

    Ejeh also recalled his experience when he travelled to Cairo, Egypt for a programme of the African Union last year.

    He said: “I was asking to know if there was any Igede person there. Before the end of that day, I saw someone who said she was trafficked from Ogun State all the way to Cairo.

    “When she arrived in Cairo, they seized her travel documents and she has been stranded there for more than five years.  Our children have continually been sexually abused, our children have continually been at the mercy of merchants.”

    Age-long practice worsens trafficking

    Checks revealed that the incident of trafficking of male children in Igede is worsened by an age-long traditional practice called Okwurumi. According to Ejeh, it is a socio-cultural issue that a whole lot of people don’t like to talk about. He said: “It is a practice whereby children and youths from the age of five to adulthood are trafficked for economic purposes to the southwestern part of the country to work on the farms.

    “It is socio-cultural in Igede land because it is widely accepted as a means of earning income and a means of social certification cum wealth distribution among Igede people.

    “When you see old people in Igede, many of them must have gone for Okwurumi when they were in primary or secondary school.”

    Explaining how the practice works, he said: “A man who owns a large farm in the South West, possibly an Igede man, comes home to recruit so many workers.

    “In the whole of the six states in the South West, an Igede person must recruit the highest number of non-indigenous settlers in that community.

    “Because of the intensity of work in agriculture, the young ones of these days who do not want to get themselves dirty prefer to go to urban areas to work as house helps. They work as unskilled labourers, washing dishes and pounding yams for food vendors.”

    He added: “There is a terrible motor park in Igede where children are trafficked from.  We went to the park and we summoned all the leaders of the union and threatened them, using NAPTIP.

    “We told them that anybody who engages in transporting children to any part of the country without the consent of the traditional ruler or their parents would be dealt with.  A lot of them became afraid.

    “According to what I was told, any time they see underage children who say they are travelling to see their uncles, they now chase them back or get the driver arrested and all of that. That is part of the impact we have made.

    “We have visited more than 25 communities. In September we spent more than eight days at home moving from one village to another, speaking to community leaders, religious leaders , market women, youth groups and student unions, among others, about the dangers that our children are facing and about the existential threat in the sense that if you go to Igede community, you will hardly see able bodied boys and girls. All the people you would see are old or disabled people. Why? The young ones have gone for Okwurumi economic migration. They have been trafficked to urban areas to work as house helps.

    Speaking from his experience in dealing with the menace, the Zonal Commander of National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Aganran Ganiu Alao, said: “At the beginning of planting season, people come in and take able bodied men from the state to the South West, specifically to Lagos and Osun states, purposely for farming. In the course of taking them away, there is an intermediary who we call trawley.

    “These intermediaries benefit from the labour of these victims in the sense that a certain percentage of what is due to the victims is also given to them. To us, exploitation has taken place there. Assuming they are supposed to pay those people N10,000 per month, the intermediary will be there to get N2,000 or N3,000 from that money every month.

    “The victims are always paid at the end of the year. They work from January to December when the bulk of the money is paid. At the end of the day, there is a shortage because the go between will get a certain amount from that money.

    “When that happens, they come to us crying that they have been exploited. That is when we come in to intercept them. Purely, it is labour exploitation.”

    The practice, he said, is tantamount to labour exploitation which is against NAPTIP law.

    He said: “It is only when they have issues with the people that took them to the South West (traffickers) that we get to know and investigate.

    “These are able bodied young men that are taken away to work in plantation farms, rice farms and cassava farms. They leave here because of the high wages they have been promised, but at the end of the day, you discover that a lot of labour exploitation comes in.

    “Even in those places they are going to work, they are not properly fed and they come back with a lot of sickness.”

    Although child trafficking is most prevalent in Igede, the NAPTIP Makurdi Zonal Commander, said: “I must be honest with you that almost all the 17 local government areas in Benue State are endemic to trafficking.

    “We just came back from Buruku in Katsina Ala area to rescue some victims. We go as far as Kwande, Zaki Biam, and as far as Guma in Nasarawa axis. Most of those areas are endemic to trafficking. That is what we are witnessing now, and it is on the rise.”

    We’re not aware of trend — Benue govt

    The Benue State Government said it was not aware of any child trafficking trend in any part of the state.

    In a telephone chat with our correspondent, the Commissioner for Information, Ngunan Adingi, said: “I am not aware of such. I will find out and get back to you.”

    Worried by the development in the community, the wife of the monarch said: “When talking about trafficking, the authorities should beam their searchlight on Benue, my community in particular.

    “If only individuals or the government can come to this poverty stricken place and establish something that can help the children stay back.

    “It is not enough to arrest the traffickers. If you dissuade them from travelling, the children will boldly ask, ‘Are you going to pay our schools fees? Are you going to take care of us? Are you going to empower us?

    “The children don’t always know the purpose for which they are being taken away. The traffickers, like I said earlier, always come innocently asking for house help.

    “Through my contact in Lagos, we were able to discover that the people who recruit them keep them in a place and later give them out and collect money on their behalf.

    “Some of them got killed. Some children as young as nine or 12 years never knew they were going into such a situation.

    “Yes, of course, some of them get killed. Before my husband became the monarch, I was following a particular case where a man was bragging about what they did to an 11-year-old girl that was allegedly bewitching the family.”

    As the wife of the traditional ruler, she said: “I don’t have any budget or anybody reaching out to us in such a situation. Because there is nobody to enable me to rehabilitate these children or empower them with skill for them to be self-reliant.

    “I feel so weak. It is a pain to me. The authorities should turn their searchlight on Benue, my community in particular, when talking about talking about human trafficking.

    “If individuals or the government can come to this poverty stricken place and establish something, that can help the children stay back.”